My god, that was the best fucking ending ever. I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWing right now and my sister's teasing me for being such a fucking pussy but good god, epic anime is 9001% fucking epic. And this is after being spoiled to hell and back by 4chan.

Speechless. All I can do is shed manly, girly, bittersweet tears. Fuck.

And in after, b4, during Slowpoke.jpg. I just finished the torrent, stfu. My god, can't wait for the subs to come out so I can watch this again and shed moar tears.

The sci-fi shounen genre has never had it this good. Okay, not never, Giant Robo exists after all, but this anime managed to claw its way out of the pile of junk that sometimes stinks up the shounen genre to provide something really refreshing. Tengen Toppa is loud, it's brash, it's explosive just like all the others, and yet it also delivers deep characterization and moving subplots. It's Gundam on speed, GaoGaiGar with brains, Getter Robo with sentiments, and has a liberal dose of Toward the Terra's epic feel. In essence, it looks asinine on the surface, but actually spins a mature and compelling story without losing that heart-stopping sense of adventure.

The first half is not just a great series of episodes but a remarkable laying down of groundwork. At first, what seemed to be merely fun concepts, such as mecha combining, primitive societies living in caves, and battles occurring with giant drill-shaped arms, actually took on meaning in the latter half that lifted the show to epic proportions. The focus shifted from providing a series of power-ups and simple good-versus-evil battles to a fairly complex weaving of political and philosophical ‘grey areas', human empowerment, and romance.

I haven't enjoyed a world concept like this since Jyu Oh Sei; the effort put into developing both a believable and yet wholly refreshing universe is admirable. My eyes feasted on the quirky colour palette and animal species, the unique outfits and the bold mecha designs. In a more technical sense, the animation allowed for smooth enough movement, but, more importantly, hilarious facial expressions and enough juvenile inventiveness (did I mention the giant arm-drills?) to appeal to the child in me. Moreover, the distinct ‘comic book' use of light and shadow and extreme camera angles made for an excellent dramatic tone during many of the climactic scenes. Watch out for an episode early on which is actually directed and animated by the same studio that brought us Beck - the animation style was just unsuitable and called for an uncomfortable adjustment on my part.

I found the pop-rock opening theme suitably energetic and the second more punky ending theme grew on me after a while because it had a catchy melody. However, the first hip hop ending theme was just mediocre. The music during the episodes was a good mix of instrumentals, hip hop, metal, and later electronic sounds; in particular, I enjoyed the epic ‘Libera Me From Hell' which moved from rap to opera to instrumental all in one song. In terms of voice acting, everyone performed well, but Kamina and Viral stood out from the rest as the most dynamic.

Tengen Toppa would not be half the anime it is without Kamina, the thread that holds the entire fabric together. True, Simon is in fact the central protagonist, but the star quality Kamina brings to the plot is unrivaled. He is cocky, charming, invigorating, tragic, and fearless, a hero whose personality overshadows everything. In terms of charisma, he is probably outdone only by Goro Honda from Major.

Simon, on the other hand, did not show his mettle until quite late into the series. Much of the beginning and middle episodes were used to peel off the layers of his innocence one by one until what was left was the determined and, disappointingly, semi-charismatic core. He rode a powerful mecha and made some great speeches, but in the end I found him less exciting to watch than some of the others.

Those others would include Yoko the sassy sharpshooter, who unfortunately became the sole victim of the series' ecchi leanings, Rossiu, a former priest's apprentice whose development was one of the most complex, Nia, an abandoned princess looking for her own identity, and Viral the beastman, who turned out to be far more than just an amusing recurring antagonist. Actually, the high number of characters that were developed is commendable considering the show was only twenty-seven episodes; getting attached to several of them was easy.

Apart from a few instances of inelegant execution, this series packs in some high quality ideas. With a gung-ho mix of action, comedy, ecchi, zany animation, intellectual concepts, and witty characterisation, Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann is a treat for anybody looking for something accessible, all-round fun, deep, and engaging.

Before I start, I'd like to actually point out what makes this community "Good" or at the very least "Unique." Between /a/, and other anime related discussion forums, you'd notice little to no difference aside from layout and posting format. The rules are the same; no NSFW content, no inflammatory remarks, keep content on-topic, etc. The thing that makes us special would be the elitism brought on by the fact that you can post anonymously. Yes, it's also extremely immature, and as a result, people latch on to average shows because they're accepted by the community. It does keep this place relatively free from terrible anime, however. Our sheer intolerance for Gurren-Lagann or related series' is what keeps /a/ different from other places. We are prone to group-think, and group-think has done us well: Which leads me to my next point.

We must maintain the status quo.

Status quo: "The way things are," or "The current state of affairs." This is the underlying fabric of what keeps our community together. Because of the anonymous environment, the status quo is actually vulnerable. That anonymous nature can be shattered by an unfortunate group of posters, the Tripfags. Tripfags, called Tripfriends by the deceived, are a cancer.

I'm sure we all know what a Tripfag is. We experience it every day. A Tripfag is a person who is deliberately disturbing the order of things to "Fish" for emotional responses from /a/’s population. This is very dangerous because that order is what keeps us, the community, who we are.

You might say "Don't respond to Tripfags" as a means to prevent them from doing it, but that won't work. /a/ gets new posters every day, whether you like it or not. These posters need to adapt to the way things are; the natural order. Ignoring Tripfags would allow Tripfags to dominate the board through Tripfag posting. Old members would know better, but new users will not. With new users constantly coming in, they will adapt to this "Tripfaggery" and the problem will grow worse.

From this, I don't think I need to do much to convince you that responding to Tripfags is absolutely necessary. You need to fight Tripfags to protect new people from adopting their mindset. You need to counter post to show that the majority of the people do not need the attention. You need to contribute to an eventual 250+ post shitstorm just so the very fabric of our community isn't ripped apart by these attention whores. It should be extremely clear to everyone just what Tripfaggery does. Tripfaggery causes a mandatory 250+ argument over nothing.

Tripfaggery needs to stop. Thank you in advance for making /a/ a better place.

>>10219435
This statement is true. After watching gurren lagann i was unable to watch any anime for 2 months. Then after that i forced myself to marathon a mediocre show (Goddannar, it was alright, a few of the episodes were good, but overall it was lack luster in comparison) And then after that i had to watch a much better show ping pong club ( an older anime that was great in it's time, but which has animation that is archaic looking by today's standards). After that i was able to get back into the swing of things.

Is it the animation? The music? The characters? The story? Nope, it's none of that. I've seen other series, some were bad, and some were good. But TTGL is different. It's power, and it's greatness are off on a scale of it's own. My heart tells me that the beauty of GL is something unmatched by anything else humans can create. From the beauty of Nia's heart, to the beauty of Kamina and Simons brotherly relationship, to the burning souls of the human race and Simon's journey through worlds, galaxies and dimensions.

It's a show where the culmination of the human mind lets itself roam free, to become the strongest, to take over all and save everyone from evil. It surpasses all boundaries, it does the impossible. It crashes, slams and breaks right through.

It slides past anything before, and surpasses them all. It's beauty and fiery spirit represents our hearts and souls. The very hearts and souls of the human race that we're a part of. It shows we can break right through as long as we have the power. That nothing can stop us if we try, that even the greatest enemies can be beaten. No matter the path we must take, we can move onwards, we can continue on our journey and we can do the impossible.

It's a break-through of the human mind, soul and heart. It's something we've never seen before, we'll never see again, and is definitely something none of us will forget. TTGL is the defining moment of the human race.